Child, Youth & Family Counselling

Our creative and playful approach

At Nurture Psychology, we are passionate about connecting with your child on their level and being able to enter their world through play-based techniques, sand tray therapy, therapeutic storytelling, expressive art, and other creative interventions.

Our intention in our creative and playful approach is to recognize and honour the developmental level of your child so that they feel respected and valued. When working with children, individually or as a family, Nurture Psychology recognizes that children do not communicate in the same way that adults do. Traditional adult talk therapy can be very threatening for children and is not effective, because it does not acknowledge their cognitive or developmental abilities.

Our creative and playful approach is free from evaluation and judgment, making it safe for your child to make mistakes without failure, encourages the use of their imagination, and increases their involvement and interest in the therapeutic process in a way that promotes their curiosity and growth.

While creativity is an essential component of our work, we are also mindful that it may not be for every child or youth. We recognize our clients are unique individuals. For this reason, we are committed to tailoring strategies and treatments to meet the unique needs of each and every client.

Without engaging your child or youth in a meaningful way, Nurture Psychology believes there can be no family counselling. Our playful and compassionate approach to family counselling facilitates a meaningful exchange across children, youth, and adults.

The intention behind our playful and compassionate family counselling approach is to create positive parent-child interactions. Positive parent-child interactions build a foundation of connectedness, security, and love. It can also encourage the growth of emotional maturity in children and youth, including the ability for them to express their needs in relation to others, share their challenges with their caregivers, and identify, express, and manage their emotions better.

Compassion and playfulness aim to reduce tension and stress within the home, increase parents’ understanding of their child or youth so they can better relate to each other, and allows parents to find new ways to enjoy parenting.

Some parents feel they do not have the ability to be playful. If this is the case for you, the counsellor can support you in building this ability or work with you and your family in other ways that are more comfortable or meaningful for you. Nurture Psychology encourages caregivers to ask questions of the counsellor to support their family counselling work.

The Association for Play Therapy introduces Andrew to see the value of play therapy approaches.

A young girl in a youth counselling session having a tea party at Nurture Psychology
A child therapist, wearing huge toy glasses, crouches down to engage with a young boy, who is sitting on a child-sized sofa. A dollhouse bookcase is in the background.

Counselling for Adults

At Nurture Psychology, adults feel heard, understood, and valued.

Our approach to therapy centers on healthy, secure attachments in our relationships. Healthy attachments in our relationships are key to how we experience the world. How we feel about others. How we feel about our life. How we feel about our past and our present. How we show up in the world. Healthy attachments are powerful in shaping the lens through which we frame, practice, and build our present and future selves.

Improving the quality of our attachments transforms our sense of belonging.

What this looks like in practice is different for each client. The benefits of counselling for adults are personal, based on their unique situations and goals. For example, therapy can help our clients to explore and practice who they want to be. It helps them grow in their compassion for themselves and others. Parents can connect better with their children. Their family dynamics can become healthier. Their relationship as a couple is strengthened. Their sense of companionship, teamwork, fulfillment, and performance in the workplace improves.

The therapeutic process for our adult clients can involve other family members. This can be valuable to support the counselling process or to deepen understanding and emotional connection.

We respectfully support parents in building their capacity to nurture and raise healthy children and find new ways to enjoy parenting. It is important to us that parents feel heard, understood, and valued.

Our compassionate, playful approach aims to reduce tension and stress within the home and to increase parents’ understanding of their child or youth so they can better relate to each other.

A mother holds her daughter as they read together, sitting in a cozy nook at Nurture Psychology. A white rabbit toy dressed in a pink ballerina outfit reads with them.
An adult man smiling during a counselling session at Nurture Psychology
A woman in an individual counselling session reaches out to her therapist, who hands her a tissue.
A youth seated in front of a laptop, with a small dog by her side

Telepsychology

In addition to in-person sessions, Nurture Psychology also offers virtual therapy sessions for children, youth, families, and adults virtually. These are online sessions – also called telepsychology.

Counselling sessions over video can be ideal for people who live outside of Calgary but within Alberta, for people who are experiencing anxiety and cannot come into the office, or during times of public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our telepsychology sessions take place over Google Meet, a secure video conferencing solution that secures your information and safeguards your privacy. The audio and video content from telepsychology sessions is not saved and it is encrypted in transit. No one can access the sessions, either when they are taking place nor at a later time.

Our Space

At Nurture Psychology, we are proud to offer premium counselling services in an accessible, safe, and comfortable space.

We are pleased to offer our clients the option to work through their experiences or challenges creatively in our therapeutic playroom (especially designed for children) or in our warm and inviting office space for adults or youth.

Waiting room at a child therapist's office in Calgary
Therapist's office - Nurture Psychology
Waiting area at a child therapist's office. A child-size pink couch, bookcases and a playhouse
Therapist's office with a sofa and chair
A Calgary psychologist's office - Nurture Psychology
Therapists office with a sofa and chair
A child therapist' office
A cupboard full of toys in a child therapist's office